In the Rays of Sundown
by liferegrets
Summary: Ichigo's mind is near chaos as he realizes the current events are driving him insane. After a surprise meeting with a few of his old friends he realizes that things will get simpler than he expected to be. IchiRuki


**A/N: **Hello fellow Bleach (IchiRuki) fans! This is my first Bleach  fanfiction even though I've watched the series from the start…I've been hiding timidly behind the corners but I think I'm ready to write one. I was thinking of a kind of satirical drabble of the relationship between Ichigo and Rukia, but from the lack of Rukia that we are currently witnessing in the manga, (and I hope that Kubo-sensei will stop this) I decided to write a long piece of work I call In the Rays of Sundown.

Oh, and this will contain the events of the present manga chapters and may contain some future content when available on Bleach7 manga downloads.

You've been warned, there are spoilers!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: ** I wish I did, but I don't…

"_Idiot."_

Ichigo muttered into the vast nothingness of his room as he saw a familiar face smirk at him from the crevices of his imagination. He had noted that his insomnia had kicked in again, and he shifted uncomfortably on his bed, changing and rearranging the position of his head ever so often. Thinking of the past events of the previous summer, he had expected to grow weary and fall asleep, but some of the events have caused a type of anxiety for him, and it caused him to worry, and therefore he couldn't sleep.

He sat up straight on his bed, and took a glance at his digital clock that stood on top of the dresser.

It read 4:00 AM.

Ichigo hit the switch of the lamp that was juxtaposed on the left side of his immense bed. He watched as the light flicker on and off like a dying firefly which in effect made him think again of the same person he had been thinking of all night.

He wondered what she was doing, and he wondered if she wondered what he was doing…he wondered if Renji was being nice to her…he wondered if her 'I've-got-a-stick-up-my-ass brother' was treating her right…he wondered and wondered…

And worried.

"That idiot better not be getting into any trouble…" 

With the troubling past few days regarding his incidents with Hirako and his annoyingly loathsome attitude that Ichigo was keeping towards him, he couldn't help but wish that Rukia was here again, living in the small crevasse of his closet, screaming at him for every mistake she could find, and causing Ichigo the mild amusement when she had trouble eating a piece of gum.

At least then he knew what the future had in store for him.

But now everything seemed so scattered, as if someone had splashed a tickle-me-pink in his black and white world. Wait, someone already used that color…alright, a neon green in Ichigo's black and white world. He didn't know what to expect from that weirdo Hirako, and his consistent appearance followed by the speech he gave to him about the hollow that was inside of him couldn't trouble him more than anything else.

Ichigo turned his lamp and flicked the switch as the light began to diminish and blend with the darkness. Ichigo ran his slender fingers into his orange hair, and with a troubled mind lay down to attempt sleep once again.

At least when Rukia was here he knew what to expect…well…_sort of…_

They would go to school, and often chat or send letters of hate to each other during Japanese 3, go to lunch with the guys, as Rukia went to eat with Orihime, Tatsuki, and the rest, or sometimes they even ate all together. After that they would go to the last lesson of the day, and Ichigo would impatiently wait for Rukia outside the school gate to avoid being called a couple and having to beat up people like Keigo because they had thought either he or Rukia was supposedly theirs…

After school would almost be as predictable as at school. They did homework, Ichigo would sit on the desk, his eyes wandering around the room and seldom on the paper while Rukia lay sprawled on her tummy on Ichigo's bed, which could at least fit eight of her, concentrating intently at the strange symbols and numbers that lay on her paper.

After receiving a hit or two, Ichigo would impatiently teach her how to do the math equations, adding casually an insult or two in the process. Dinner usually came after their homework time, and Ichigo would tread downstairs to eat and make sure to ask for seconds for his unknown companion in his room while Rukia sat on Ichigo's desk either to 'study the modern Japanese' by reading mangas or drawing cute little drawings of 'Chappy the Rabbit' onto the drawing pad Ichigo had bought for her.

"_It's so you would stop scribbling that crap all over my school notebooks."_

"…_thanks, Ichigo."_

"_Hmph."_

After Rukia ate her dinner Yuzu and Karin were usually asleep and Isshin was in his room doing things Ichigo would rather fight Byakuya then know, both would attempt to take a shower, not together of course. But Ichigo would stand dumbly outside, a towel and a toothbrush in his hands, his brows scrunched in annoyance at her duration. About an hour later Rukia would sneak back to Ichigo's room to her niche, the infamous closet, and sleep, while Ichigo cursed as only icy cold water came out of the faucet because Rukia had taken too long.

By ten o' clock all were asleep, excluding Kon, who was scheming and plotting ways to open Rukia's closet, but around two o' clock Ichigo and Rukia were wide awake, searching for hollows in the neighborhood in the dead of night.

Ichigo remembered collapsing on the bed right after the hollow fights, so he never remembered if Rukia did also…even though he highly doubted it. Though Rukia was small and frail in her appearance, her will was so strong that Ichigo wondered what kind of a monster would be able to break it.

One night he awoke to find her standing in front of his window, a few days before Renji and Byakuya had kidnapped her, and her eyes again had than other-worldly distant look, like she was able to see something more than the pitch-black sky and the shining dots that were scattered across the sky. She was able to see past the blinking lights in the neighboring houses and everything else, and therefore he wasn't as surprised as he should have been when she had run away a few days later and made him vow to himself that he will kill her the next time they were to meet for worrying him so much….

After all, Kurosaki Ichigo was not supposed to worry.

He had felt close to shit when Rukia had been capture by some red-haired guy attempting to shape his head like a pineapple and a brother who was trying so damn hard to kill his own sister. Boy, did that piss Ichigo off.

Thinking of any possible way to get her back, he encountered many sleepless nights as he was doing right now, and even wondered how a person who resembled a cute little girl who really was over a hundred years old that he has known for about two months was able to grasp his attention so fiercely that he didn't think twice about risking his life to save her.

Because when she was here it felt as if the rain had stopped.

"Dammit."

Ichigo muttered angrily as he pulled the sleeve of his olive green jacked through his fist. He was going to take a quick walk outside, at 4:30 in the morning…he just needed a breath of fresh air.

He stuffed his hands in his pocket as it was his usual style and walked casually through the familiar neighborhood. He turned at corners, went forward at sidewalks, and stopped at a familiar area…a very familiar area.

In front of him was the site where he had met the notorious fashion-challenged Don Kan-onji and came face to face with a stubborn hollow that whined desperately for riches.

But why did his feet led him here…?

There was nothing to see of course, but a bunch of uninteresting masses of buildings. But perhaps he was looking for the memories harvested within those buildings of him and Rukia, and he annoyingly confirmed with his conscience that he missed her…

…he missed her a lot.

"Damn you, Rukia"

Ichigo kicked a pebble that stood in front of his path, and watched it as it tumbled through other obstacles on the cement road. What was he doing…? Ichigo felt stupid, all of a sudden.

'It's not like she's dead…' 

Oh wait, scratch that, she is. But in reality that is why Ichigo is unable to see her. To come from Soul Society to the real world is a piece of cake, but from the real world to Soul Society was another story, and it made him shudder as Ichigo remembered the process he had to go through in his attempt to save Rukia.

Ichigo began walking towards the direction of his house, remembering that he had school today and if he didn't arrive on time Isshin would have a few more surprising kicks in store for his him.

He glanced at his watch, and his pace doubled in speed as he saw what time it was.

'How did so much time pass by?' 

Ichigo, in the middle of his way home, spotted a short cut that he and Chad would often use in their middle-school years in order to avoid getting caught by gangs whom they had supposedly humiliated or pissed off just by existing.

He recognized the rebellious teen spirit on the walls, the diversity of colors painted on any nearby trash cans, dumpsters, and wondered how kids his age can find anything so amusing about writing with spray paint on containers people dump their waste in.

'Man…people are getting so retar—' 

Ichigo stopped when he felt the sudden familiar presence in from of him, just a few meters ahead of him.

'What the hell?' 

He approached the corner and turned at the edge, and saw what his instincts had told to him to expect to see, but he also saw a lot more that he hadn't expected to see at all.

He felt the arrogance, the bluntness, and the strong will of her soul…

"R-Rukia?"

**A/N: **Any comments?


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